Without section 5, the effect of any court decree could be swiftly nullified by the local enactment of new discriminatory laws which would have to be relitigated.

Section 5 confirms the flexibility of this legislation to prevent continuing voter discrimination. Among the many types of election law submissions that have prompted objections are reregistrations, annexations, polling place changes, changes in qualification requirements for candidates, and redistricting plans. In a polling place change, for example, a jurisdiction might shift its location from a convenient and central site to a less accessible one. In May 1974 the Attorney General objected to such a change attempted by the city of Newport News, Va. To reach the proposed polling place blacks would have had to travel an additional 112 miles without the benefit of public transportation. Or a city might move a polling place to a building with hostile connotations to minority voters. In November 1973 a town in St. Landry Parish, La., resolved to move a polling place to a Knights of Columbus Hall. The Attorney General objected because blacks were not normally permitted free access to that hall and many blacks therefore might be intimidated from voting.

Section 5 has also prevented jurisdictions from setting up burdensome qualifications for candidates that often have a greater impact on black political aspirants. In several instances the Department of Justice has objected to increases in filing fees where there was no alternate means of qualifying for a position on the ballot.

Section 5 has had its broadest impact, however, in the areas of redistricting and reapportionment. A substantial majority of the objections have been directed at this type of change. A redistricting plan or election system can be arranged so that a black candidate will have little chance of winning even with the full support of the black community. A gerrymandered election plan which splinters a black community into several districts, a change from a ward to an at-large system, the imposition of a numbered post system, or a majority requirement are all changes that almost routinely receive objections from the Department of Justice. Objections to this type of change, more than any other, have allowed blacks to achieve a greater measure of political self-determination."

Because objections to changes related to reapportionment schemes have played such a central role in stimulating black political participation, it is essential to extend this protection. Following the 1980 census, there will be another wave of reapportionment to comply with the one person, one vote doctrine. If black voting interests are to be adequately protected from discriminatory election law changes of this type, Congress must extend section 5 for another 10 years

The total number of blacks registered to vote in the Southern States covered by the Voting Rights Act. The 1972 statistics estimate that in 1964 to over 2 million in 1972. Assuming that black registration has continued to increase, extrapolation from 1972 registration figures suggests that in every Southern State at least 50 percent of the eligible blacks are registered.

In spite of these impressive gains, the black voter registration rate still lags behind the white registration rate in every Southern State covered by the Voting Rights Act. The 1972 statistics estimate that in the seven Southern States covered by the act, 56.6 percent of the black voting age population was registered, while the comparable figure

for the white population was 67.8 percent, a difference of 11.2 percent. In two States, Alabama and Louisiana, the difference between the white and black registration rate exceeds 20 percent.

In addition, these statewide statistics mask even wider disparities that can be found in certain rural counties and parishes. Registration figures as of October 1974 obtained from the Louisiana State Board of Registration indicate that in 8 of 10 least populous parishes, the white registration rate is more than 20 percentage points greater than the rate for blacks. Similar examples of wide disparities occur in North Carolina counties. In that State eight counties as of October 1974 show a black-white registration gap in excess of 25 percentage points; and in two of these counties the gap exceeds 30 percentage points. While the overall registration figures indicate that blacks have made substantial progress in political participation, the large gap remaining in the registration rates of whites and blacks is itself enough to justify the extension of the act. Equally important, extension of the act insures against any backtracking from the gains already made.

In 1960 blacks held fewer than 100 elective offices in the South. As of April 1974, 963 blacks held elective offices. Blacks now appear at every level of government from the offices of mayor and State legislator to local justices of the peace. In addition the expanded black electorate and increased political sophistication of that electorate have forced many white politicians to recognize and respond to the needs of the black community or risk political defeat.

And yet the gross numbers of black officeholders tell only half the story. The actual gains in political power are far less than the numbers would suggest. Many of these black officials hold relatively minor positions in small communities or counties with an overwhelmingly black majority population. Although there are 149 black elected officials in Louisiana, most of these officials are found in small towns. In the 69 cities and towns in Louisiana with a total population exceeding 5.000, only 12 blacks hold office. Mississippi has a total of 191 black elected officials, and this figure exceeds that of every other State in the Nation with the exception of Michigan. However, like Louisiana, most of these officials have been elected because they reside in small towns with heavily black populations. Mississippi has 47 municipalities with a population greater than 5,000 but these larger municipalities have elected only 8 blacks to office.

While blacks have made important gains, these gains do not reflect the political power of their numbers were there no discrimination. Because of the structure of southern politics, the greatest influence in policymaking often resides on the county government level. An analysis of black gains in these offices can therefore be used as a yardstick to measure real political power. In only 18 of Georgia's 100 counties with a 25-percent black population, do blacks hold any elective position in county or municipal government. And in only 6 of these 100 counties have blacks been elected to the county governing board. Similarly, Mississippi has 61 counties where the black population is at least one-quarter the total. Only 19 of these counties have blacks in elective office; and only 7 have blacks on the county government board. And the results are little different in other States. For example, Alabama, with 34 counties having at least a 25-percent black population, has elected black to only 4 of the county government boards.

Yes, the gains are significant. But black political participation, so long thwarted by the dominant white influence, is still in its infancy. Extension of the act is therefore justified to permit the full development of this nascent black political participation.

When the Johnson administration first submitted this legislation to Congress, coverage was to last for 10 years. We felt at that time that 10 years was the minimum time required to redress the legacy of 100 years of racial discrimination in the voting process. Although Congress did not initially accept our suggestion and enacted only a 5-year coverage, the Voting Rights Act was extended in 1970 for another 5 years because the problems remained. Now, 10 years after its initial passage, we are at another crossroad with the Voting Rights Act. We have witnessed a dramatic change in black political participation not only in the South, but throughout the United States. But we still have a long way to go before the intent of the 15th amendment and the Voting Rights Act will be finally and fully realized for black citizens. I believe it would jeopardize the developing political minority voice for Congress to allow this legislation to lapse without renewal. Because the Voting Rights Act guarantees such a decisive stop to the installation of discriminatory election schemes, I urge Congress to extend the Voting Rights Act for another 10 years.

Senator TUNNEY. Thank you very much. I will delay questioning until we have an opportunity to hear from Mr. Parker.

TESTIMONY OF FRANK R. PARKER, ASSISTANT CHIEF COUNSEL, MISSISSIPPI OFFICE, LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW

Mr. PARKER. Mr. Chairman, I am Frank R. Parker, assistant chief counsel of the Jackson, Miss., office of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

I appreciate the invitation to appear before you.

I have prepared a statement on current conditions in Mississippi with exhibits, which I would respectfully request the committee to include in the record of these hearings, and with your permission I would like to summarize the high points of this statement, so that there may be adequate time for questions.

Senator TUNNEY. It will be incorporated in the record at the end of your testimony.

Mr. PARKER. As Mr. Katzenbach has pointed out, it is true to say that no other piece of legislation parallels the tremendous success of the Voting Rights Act in providing for disfranchised black people in the South and other parts of the country the right to register free of discrimination and to run freely for public office.

Directly as a result of the implementation of the act, over 268,000 black citizens, 66 percent of those eligible, are now registered to vote in Mississippi, and Mississippi currently has about 200 black elected officials, which is more than any other Southern State. But the Voting Rights Act is just beginning to accomplish its intended purposes, and it is too early to let it lapse.

Invidious discrimination that brought about the act's passage in 1965 and its renewal in 1970 is continuing. If the act is permitted to lapse, those tremendous gains made during the past decade will be and can be eradicated.

First, on voter registration and voting-significant disparities remain between whites and blacks, both in registration in Mississippi with 76 percent of the eligible whites registered as opposed to 66 percent of the eligible blacks, still a 10 percent disparity in terms of eligibles; and in voting in which registered blacks are still not able to turn out in the same proportion as whites. This is due not to apathy, as some have said, but is a result of past discrimination, the memory of the racial terror of the 1960's, and in many instances the rigging of electoral mechanisms which gives the black citizen a feeling that he is unable, either by registering or voting, to influence the outcome of the election.

Threats and intimidation continue. Just last month on March 3, 1975, when two black citizens from Madison County, Miss., attempted to assist a third black citizen, Billy Brown, in filling out the long voter registration form in effect in Mississippi, the local circuit clerk and registrar, Mr. Foote Campbell, drew a gun on them and threatened them, and this happened just last month. This incident is described in the affidavit of Mr. Ike Brown, which I filed with the subcommittee. From 1972 to the present, the Mississippi Legislature has required the use of a long, complex voter registration form in which you must reveal to the county registrar in order to register to vote where you go to church, your place of employment, the location of your personal and real property, and the location and number of your telephone.

Poll tax receipts are no longer required, but a new device has been invented in this form, for you must produce your social security number, your driver's license number, your motor vehicle license tag number, and the address given on your most recent income tax return.

A copy of this form in effect in Mississippi is attached as exhibit 1 of my testimony. Now, even though numerous complaints have been lodged against this burdensome and harassing form, it was not changed by the Legislature of Mississippi until just last week as a result of pressure brought to bear by the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Constitutional Rights in its questioning of Mississippi Attorney General A. F. Summer last month on hearings on the extension of the Voting Rights Act.

When the Voting Rights Act was enacted, Mississippi repealed the statute providing for assistance in voting to illiterate voters, who were required to be registered under the act, so there is no Mississippi law currently on the books providing for assistance to illiterate voters in casting their ballots.

Currently, and under a subsequent court decision, assistance to illiterates may be given only by election managers who frequently are white. Under this system black illiterates often are deferred from voting for the candidates of their choice, fearing possible reprisals if they direct the white manager to mark their ballot for a black candidate who may be unpopular in the white community.

Although Mississippi has proportionately more black persons than any other State in the country, blacks continue to be excluded from elective positions of real power and responsibility in which they can affect public policy at the State, county, and municipal level. To this extent, a citation of the statistics in terms of the gains in black-elected officials is somewhat misleading because these black-elected officials primarily hold office at the local level, justice of the peace and constable positions. There they cannot influence public policy at the State, county, or municipal levels.

In Mississippi today there are no blacks in the congressional delegation or in statewide elected office. Of the 174 members of the Mississippi Legislature, only one is black. Of the 410 members of county governing boards, called in Mississippi county boards of supervisors, only 11 are black. Of the estimated 1,350 elected members of municipal governing bodies, only 62 are black, and these generally are confined to small, rural, and predominantly black communities.

Since 1970, since the renewal of the act, the Mississippi Legislature and county boards of supervisors have been and continue to be attempting to prevent the election of black candidates by gerrymandering of legislative and county election districts, by continuing to provide for at-large elections that dilute black voting strength, and by tampering with the election mechanism to prevent the election of black candidates.

At least 10 Mississippi counties have been found guilty since 1970 of racial gerrymandering the lines of the county supervisors' districts. There are five supervisors' districts in each county, and these form election districts for the election of the county board of supervisors, the county board of education, justices of the peace, and constables. In 9 cases, 9 of the 10 cases, these gerrymanders were blocked by objections under the section 5 preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

I describe the history of these gerrymanders in my article, which is attached to my testimony and which appeared in the Mississippi Law Journal.

For example, Hinds County, we have a map of Hinds County. Hinds County is the location of the State capital and has more black people than any other county in the State, 84,064 black persons, but has a white countywide voting majority. The white power structure thus far-in a county with more black people than any other in the Statehas blocked the election of any black candidate to any county office. After the passage of the act in 1965, Hinds County black citizens registered in large numbers and gained voting majorities in Districts 2 and 3 in rural portions of the county. These majorities were then wiped out in redistricting in 1969, which was done pursuant to a lawsuit in which only whites were represented, and a section 5 objection was entered to the 1969 plan because the redistricting fragmented and diluted the heavy black concentration in the city of Jackson.

Despite the section 5 objection which was never challenged in the D.C. District Court, the county officials conducted the 1971 county elections in Hinds County-the last ones we have had-under the plan that was objected to under section 5. Of course, this spelled defeat for all the black candidates.

Senator TUNNEY. You say that the Attorney General never has given his approval?

Mr. PARKER. The Attorney General objected to the plan.

Senator TUNNEY. The Attorney General objected, and the elections were held anyway?

Mr. PARKER. That is correct.

Senator TUNNEY. Are the men or women who won the election presently holding office?

Mr. PARKER. They are holding office today; yes, sir.

Senator TUNNEY. What has the Attorney General done about that?